Page 92 of Viral Justice

“During the Spanish flu pandemic at the end of the First World War, millions of people died. Some of them died within hours.”

“Why is there blood coming out of his ears?”

“The virus must cause damage to the mucous membranes, leading to hemorrhages. I’m very sorry.”

“Not your fault, Colonel. He knew the risks just like the rest of us. But if you find out this bug was man-made, I want a crack at the fucker who cooked it up.”

“There’s a lineup for that, but I think I could squeeze you in.” Max took a good look at Tom’s face and saw anger and grief, but what one would expect. “I have to call the base. Can I leave you in charge of the body?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very good.”

When Max turned to leave, he found Ali in the doorway. She looked sad and angry, but the expression she gave him was supportive.

“Reporting this to the general?”

He nodded and went around her to go to his lab. “I’m going to ask for another supply drop. A small one this time.”

She followed. “How small?”

“I’m thinking it could be dropped by a drone on a specific target.” He began to clear a space to set up the equipment he was going to need to blood type the donated blood. He couldn’t do a complete phenotyping, but he could determine the ABO and Rh factor blood types. He had the right reagents and lab equipment for that.

“That would be better than the stampede we had for the last one.” Her voice was dry.

“Yes and no. The distraction was valuable.” He glanced at her and she seemed awake and very able to do anything needed. “There’s one thing I’m going to need if I’m going to try to create a vaccine from this specific virus. Something that would not likely survive a supply drop.”

“What’s that?”

“A dozen or more eggs.”

“Eggs? Like chicken eggs?”

“Yes, fertilized.”

“I’d be happy to go shopping for you, Colonel, but how can you tell a fertilized egg from an unfertilized one?”

“It’s called candling. You literally shine a light behind the egg and look for shadows that aren’t just a yolk and egg whites. With so many people dead, I think we should be able to find enough eggs from chickens with no current owners.”

“Yeah, probably.” She sighed. “I suppose you want these eggs sooner rather than later.”

He smiled. “You read my mind.”

She sighed and sang, “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to grab eggs I go.”

She was almost out the door when he called out to her. “Ali?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Yeah?”

“Be careful.” He couldn’t show her how worried he was, couldn’t tell her that if she didn’t take care of herself he’d be very, very angry. Couldn’t tell her she was important to him. All he could do was ask.

She paused, then walked back toward him.

And kept coming until she stretched up on her toes and kissed him square on the mouth. “I,” she whispered against his lips, “will be very careful if you promise to do the same.”

“Deal,” he breathed, then cupped her head and ducked down for another kiss. He could nibble on her soft, full lips all day.

And then she was gone.

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